Rahula was the son of Gautama Buddha. When only nine, he renounced the household life. At that age, he could not fully understand the Buddha’s teachings. Although he had a mild temperament and behaved well, he enjoyed telling lies just for the fun of it. One day, when a royal visitor came looking for the Buddha, Rahula attended to the visitor. Since the visitor was from other country, Rahula could not fully understand the visitor’s language. So Rahula directed the visitor to different locations thus while the visitor kept doing the wild goose chase looking for Buddha, Rahula playfully watched.

When the Buddha learned about Rahula’s mischief, he called a special assembly. When everyone arrived, the Buddha asked Rahula to bring him a basin of water. Stunned by the Buddha’s serious demeanor, Rahula quietly prepared the basin of water. Then the Buddha asked Rahula to put mud into the basin.

Seeing Rahula putting in, the Buddha asked, “Rahula, is the water in this basin suitable for drinking?”

“No, Buddha!” Rahula said, “The water is too dirty after being mixed with mud and it’s not suitable for drinking.”

“Do you know, you are just like this water, which was initially clean, clear and pure. You have chosen to become a monk, yet you have not worked hard to pursue the the eight precepts, to purify your mind and body, and to be prudent in your speech. The filth of telling lies has defiled your mind, just as the initially clean water in the basin which is now dirty,” said the Buddha.

Lowering his head, Rahula was ashamed to look at the Buddha and remained silent. Moreover Buddha was saying so in front of the thousands other monks. The Buddha then told him to throw the water away. Rahula did it obediently. After this Buddha asked Rahula again, “Now Rahula, would you use this basin as your rice bowl?”

“No, Buddha!” without waiting Buddha to ask why, Rahula continued, “The basin is not clean as it has stains on it and therefore cannot be used as food container.”

“You are now no different from this basin,” the Buddha continued. “People call and treat you as a monk, but you have behaved so nor have you purified your behavior, speech and thoughts. How can your mind hold the food of the great dharma?”

After saying so, the Buddha stood up, with a very serious gesture and kicked the basin, causing it to roll around. Rahula looked scared. “Rahula, are you worried that I might break the basin?” asked the Buddha.

Rahula remained silent as he felt the Buddha is very serious about his mischief. The Buddha raised his voice a little bit and asked the same question, “So tell me Rahula, will you worried I might broke the basin?”

“No, Buddha! It’s only a stained basin” said Rahula.

“Exactly, Just as you do not care the basin as the basin is just a crude container, being a monk that likes to tell lies are no much different from this stained basin. Rahula, people will not even care about you either if you’re a mischievous monk. You choose to be a monk, yet you do not pay attention to your own conduct. The more you play trick and tell lies eventually, nobody will ever care about you, and at the end of this life, you’ll remain lost, being sidelined and no one will ever bother and respect you at all.”

After the Buddha’s admonition, Rahula completely reformed all of his misdeed tendencies. He strictly upheld the precepts and diligently cultivated his mind. Day after day he practiced discretely and finally became one of Buddha’s greatest disciples. ——————————————————————————————————Impure speech lead to an impure mind. The consequences of constant wrongful speeches are like the dirty water where others will neglect and ignore you. As the stains on the basin resemble that when you’re telling lies, talking wrong and harmful, is like the stains in the basin, where not only contaminate your mind but also the physical you, being “brands” one as a liar. Heard of the story of “The Shepherd Boy and the Wolf?” Read it HERE. So, how can we not be careful about our speech?

Title: The Boy In The Striped PyjamasAuthor: John BoynePublisher: RBooksISBN: 9781862305274

Back Cover textLines may divide us, but hope will unite us….

Nine-year-old Bruno knows nothing of the Final Solution and the Holocaust. He is oblivious to the appalling cruelties being inflicted on the people of Europe by his country. All he knows is that he has been moved from a comfortable home in Berlin to a house in a desolate area where there is nothing to do and no one to play with. Until he meets Shmuel, a boy who lives a strange parallel existence on the other side of the adjoining wire fence and who, like the other people there, wears a uniform of striped pyjamas.

Bruno’s friendship with Shmuel will take him from innocence to revelations. And in exploring what he is unwittingly a part of, he will inevitably become subsumed by the terrible process.

Caught one very nice song from OneFM this morning when I am on my way to office. At first, I seriously thought that the singer was a female, I mean he really sound like Rihanna. After the song being played, I only managed to heard the dj said Justin something something, and the word, Baby. When I reached office, turn on my PC and the first thing I did was Googled “Justin Baby” to get the full title and the singer name and I YouTube it, oh…. “she” is a he.

The song is really nice. Love the music and the rhythm…..searching for more on Justin Bieber’s then this very cute video came up on the recommendation bar. I think I should share this with you’ll. You might have watched them already but still, just watch them…..

A 3-years-old cried over Justin Bieber

This is the full video of Justin Bieber, Baby ——————————————————————————————————–Who is Justin Bieber? Read it HERE

Back Cover text“I used to be human once. So I’m told. I don’t remember it myself, but people who knew me when I was small say I walked on two feet just like a human being….”

Ever since he can remember, Animal has gone on all fours, the catastrophic result of what happened on That Night when, thanks to an American chemical company, the Apocalypse visited his slum. Now not quite twenty, he leads a hand-to-mouth existence with his dog Jara and a crazy old nun called Ma Franci, and spends his nights fantasizing about Nisha, the daughter of a local musician, and wondering what it must be like to get laid.

When a young American doctor, Elli Barber, comes to town to open a free clinic for the still-suffering townsfolk, only to find herself struggling to convince them that she isn’t there to do the dirty work of the ‘Kampani’. Animal plunges into a web of intrigues, scams and plots with the unabashed aim of turning events to his own advantages.

Compellingly honest, entertaining and entirely without self-pity, Animal’s account lights our way into his dark world with flashe of pure joy from the very first page all the way to the story’s explosive ending.

Animal’s people is a stunningly humane work of storytelling that takes us right to the heart of contemporary India.

Back Cover textIn these unforgettable letters, Aung San Suu Kyi reaches out beyond Burma’s borders to paint for her readers a vivid and poignant picture of her native land.

Here she celebrates the courageous army officers, academics, actors and everyday people who have supported the national league for Democracy, often at great risk to their own lives. She reveals the impact of political decisions of the people of Burma, from the terrible cost to the children of imprisoned dissidents, allowed to see their parents for only fifteen minutes every fortnight, to the effect of inflation on the national diet, and of state repression on traditions of hospitality. She also evokes the beauty of the country’s seasons and scenery, customs and festivities, that remain so close to her heart.

Through these remarkable letters, the readers catches a glimpse of exactly what is at stake as Aung San Suu Kyi fights on for freedom in Burma, and on the love for her homeland that sustains her non-violent battle.

Title: The Million Shades of GrayAuthor: Cynthia KadohataPublisher: Simon And SchusterISBN: 9781847388230

Back Cover textAt twelve years old, Tin is the youngest elephant handler in his village. He loves nothing more than spending his days looking after his elephant, Lady, and dreaming of being an elephant trainer when he grows up.

But as Tin dreams of his future, the world around him is being changed dramatically by the events of the Vietnam War, and when Viet Cong attack his village, Tin’s life is turned upside down. Suddenly held hostage by soldiers who don’t care if he lives or dies, Tin has to harness all his courage to escape from his captors and save not only his own life, but his precious elephant’s too.

The Buddha always travels around to spread the dharma. Once, he stopped for several weeks in a village near Sravasti. There are large number of blind people lived in this village. One morning, the blinds folks in the village gathered to talk among themselves. One of them said, “Since we’re working in the jungle, did you’ll constantly get bitten by mosquitoes?” The other men continued, “Yes, we really suffer. I suggest that we should use our knives and arrow to kill off those mosquitoes. We can listen to the mosquitoes buzz and then we swing our knives and shoot our arrow in that direction.” They all agreed to that brilliant suggestion and the get ready to the jungle to kills all the mosquitoes. After the trip, they’ll came back badly injured, and many even died along the road back to the village.

These blind men were stumbling back to village as the Buddha and his fellow monks were alms around the village for foods.